Don't assume that offshore development of the yuan market is a sign that the currency is becoming internationalised, warns John Greenwood (pictured), the architect of Hong Kong's fixed exchange rate system.

There is a lot to be said for sitting around under trees contemplating matters. The Buddha achieved enlightenment meditating under a bo tree. Isaac Newton came up with his law of gravity sitting under an apple tree. And monetary economist John Greenwood devised Hong Kong's exchange rate link to the US dollar while lying under a coconut palm on the Micronesian island of Palau.